Akal Takht urges Punjab govt to curb drug menace

Akal Takht Jathedar Gyani Gurbachan Singh today urged the Punjab government to take strict measures to curb the drug menace prevalent in the state, amid reports of people dying due to drug overdose this month.

The Jathedar of the Akal Takht, the supreme temporal seat of Sikhs, said it was the duty of the Punjab Police and the state government to tackle the menace.

With the police suspending a DSP-rank officer at the centre of a controversy involving charges of pushing a young woman from Ludhiana into drug abuse, Singh said there were a few "black sheeps" in the police force too and they needed to be identified and punished to save the youth from abusing drugs.

He said people supporting drug trade in Punjab should not be spared either. He urged the government to provide medical treatment and counselling to young people addicted to drugs.

According to media reports, two people died over the past two weeks in Punja's Faridpur and Amritsar districts due to drug abuse.

A government official said on Tuesday that they are taking a three-pronged strategy based on enforcement, de-addiction and prevention to tackle the problem.